Arlington, Va. - American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Anthony Hamm, DC, issued the following comment today on a new report released by an independent National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel about the need for individualized, patient-centered care to treat and monitor the estimated 100 million Americans living with chronic pain. "ACA commends NIH for recognizing the value of an individual, patient-centered and multi-faceted approach to managing chronic pain. It is also interesting to read the conclusion from the panel that widespread opioid use does not provide an effective single approach for the chronic pain patient. Services provided by chiropractic physicians, including those being delivered in integrated community health centers, have proven effective with respect to patient satisfaction. ACA encourages NIH to study all complementary and integrated approaches to chronic pain management, including chiropractic. These integrated approaches can offer a higher degree of patient safety and reduce the use of medications."

Surgery always comes with the risk of serious complications, even including death. Findings from a recent study indicate obese patients who undergo lumbar fusion have an even greater risk of blood loss, longer hospital stay, higher risk of complication and worse functional outcome than do non-obese patients. According to researchers of the study, "These findings suggest that both surgeons and patients should acknowledge the significantly increased morbidity profile of obese patients after lumbar fusion." Whether you're obese or not, chiropractic care offers a safe, natural, non-invasive treatment approach for dealing with back, neck and spinal related pain and discomfort. Chiropractic care not only focuses on providing relief, but it does so by dealing with the cause of the pain and discomfort rather than just masking the symptoms. If you're in pain or discomfort and/or are considering back surgery, call your local doctor of chiropractic today and setup a no-obligation consultation. And remember, back pain can often be reversed - back surgery, cannot.

New research indicates chiropractic care coupled with exercise and pain management techniques is more successful at easing back-related leg pain than simply exercise and pain management techniques alone. Researchers at the University of Minnesota recruited 192 patients suffering from back pain with pain radiating into the legs - commonly referred to as sciatica. Patients received either therapeutic exercises and basic pain management advice, or, therapeutic exercises and basic pain management advice along with 12 weeks of chiropractic spinal manipulation. After 12 weeks, twice as many of the patients receiving the added chiropractic spinal manipulation experienced a 75 percent or greater reduction in leg pain as compared with those who did not receive chiropractic spinal manipulation; 37 percent as compared with 19 percent. After one year, patients who received the added chiropractic spinal manipulation still had higher scores for overall improvement and satisfaction.